Duelund conversion to DIY Helix Geometry Cabling
I have been an avid user of the Duelund cabling for over two years now and have used them exclusively in my system with great results. I have built many for friends and have used a full loom of interconnects, speaker cables, power cords and an extensive wiring modification for a previously owned balanced power conditioner utilizing Duelund 600V PolyCast wiring which was transformative. My cabling desires can be a little addictive as I have owned and evaluated 40+ brands of cabling costing more than an entire stereo system!
Over the past six months I stumbled upon a thread here on Audiogon in regards to a Helix designed cabling and as you probably already know, I just had to look a little deeper into this cable design…After a month of studying and sourcing parts, I decided to reach out to the designer/architect, Williewonka who gave more insights and philosophy on how the cable came into existence.
That conversation got the ball rolling in converting one of my KLE Duelund interconnects to Steve’s Helix designed which only entailed replacing the neutral with a Mil-Spec 16 AWG silver-plated copper wire with the neural wire being 3 times longer than the signal wire and of course the “Coiling” of the neutral wire : )
After the modification was complete, I was not sure what to expect from the Helix cabling but I was quite shocked with the results with “ZERO” burn-in time…The sound stage became much wider/deeper with a much tighter/focused image and clarity/transparency is like nothing I have ever heard in any cabling regardless of cost. In fact, I just sold a full loom of a commercially designed Helix Cable that’s renowned around the world and has more direct sale than any cable manufacturer; these $200 DIY Helix Cables walked all over them…
I believe you will hear the same results as I have and have heard back from friends who have already modified their Duelunds with the same results; WOW! Remember the cables will need 200+ hours to burn-in and settle into your system. My system is now 90% DIY Helix to include IC, SC, PC and Coax with each cabling adding its beauty of an organic and natural presentation that draws you into the fabric of the music.
You can tailor the sound of your cables using Duelund, Mundorf silver/1% gold, the outstanding Vh Audio OCC Solid Copper or Silver with Airlok Insulation or your favorite wiring and you can change it at any time…
http://www.image99.net/blog/files/category-diy-cables.html
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/difference-in-sound-between-copper-and-silver-digital-cables
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/adding-shielding-to-existing-cables
Enjoy,
Wig
@williewonka, That's great, I have the Neotech neutral here and waiting on the silver. I'll report my findings when complete. Would using a gold plated Sonarquest schuko plug instead of the silver plated dull dynamics and transients? Only considering gold because I'm concerned that silver will be taking me the wrong side of neutral but from one of your posts on interconnects you mentioned that you found the silver to be 'rich' sounding. I value your opinion. |
@grannyring, I was trying to search through some of your posts where I think you mentioned preferring VH Audio's silver wire with AirLok insulation as being a little 'more relaxed' than bare wire in tubes where I happened upon an old post of yours asking about supertweeters and I provide a link below that I consider essential reading. If you could enlighten me regarding the VH Audio wire please. This is off topic and titled the world beyond 20KHz. I met Max Townshend at an audio show in Veldhoven, Holland in 2019 where I had a long conversation and demo of his isolation pods, platforms and podiums and heard the supertweeters which brings much to everything including bass. This has created some fierce arguments that I now avoid. The tweets go out to about 90KHz and the common dismissal is "look if you can't hear you can't hear it" but it is heard as the harmonics necessary to complete the waveform. paper pdf If this does not open then google the bold part. From David E blackmere
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@lemonhaze - at no point have I experienced brightness or any other sound changes in my system with the Helix geometry/wires - I did experience more details and improved clarity and improved venue acoustics (i.e. hall reverberations) using silver plated connectors. Perhaps the brightness that is frequently reported is due more to the actual cable geometry and insulations used rather than the actual connectors or wire/metals and plating. Gold plating may impact the dyamics a little, but whether it would be noticeble depends on many other aspects of system confguration.
I would stick with the silver plated copper connectors then you know going forward you are getting the best possible performance Also don't be concerned with reported tarnishing, simply reseating a connector will reestablish perfect contact if any tarnishing does occur, but my SonarQuest plugs are now 4 years old and show no signs of tarnish as yet. Hope that helps - Steve |
You mentioned carbon fiber mains connectors above. Are those carbon fiber bodies connected to the ground wire in those or is the carbon fiber absorbing RFI/EMI from just being there? If the latter, I guess I could try with carbon fiber "blanket" taped around the plastic connector and take a listen. Or is this just for looks? Thank you! |
